THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: August 12, 2006: "Have you ever met God?" A radio talk show host recently said that he asks callers to tell him if they have ever met God, and if so, explain exactly how they meet God--and they can't, he stated. I didn't like the sound of that, but though irritated it challenged me to think about it. Could I claim to have "met" God? If so, how did I meet God? "Meeting" God isn't exactly the term I would use, or prefer. But I thought how God meets me primarily in His word. He does that constantly, as often as I turn to it. His word speaks to me, in particular cirumstances, and it is God speaking to me--not just something nice that has been written down long, long ago. I take it from the word that is speaking to me at the moment about something only God would know about me (this is called a "Rhema" word, technically), that He is speaking to me. It is not like reading another kind of book. I can read other books with enjoyment and also learn from them, but this is entirely different--it is God speaking, not a man speaking. It means so much more. It means so much I cannot convey how much to another human being, unless he or she has experienced the same thing. Could an unbeliever understand what I am saying? Probably not!
Next, God meets me in Christians, real Christians. I have known real Christins, and can tell them easily from the nominal or cultural kind. Some nominal Christians are so good at acting, or are so convinced by their own acting ability, that they are hard to distinguish from the real McCoy--but these are very few, indeed. How many Ethel and Lionel Barrymores were here, anyway? Only two! I have known real Christians for many years--and they are consistently Christian, no matter what the difficulty they are facing. They stand the test of time, in other words. Isn't that the most convincing test--not something you can jerry-rig on the moment to look good, but a test that blows away every possible doubt or "maybe." I have met nominal Christians who seem like the real stuff, but some problems blow up and these imposters are blown away--their true, fallen natures come out, huffing and puffing at you, and there is no mistake, they "ain't Christian, jist put on a good show!". They can't stand the test of a true Christian. My great-grandparents, grandparents, and my parents were all true, real, genuine, authentic, time-tested Christians. They triumphed through Christ over everything life could throw at them--and the things were the major things too--the Great Depression, wars, Drought, sudden death, sorrow, miscarriages, loss of loved ones, scarcity, sickness, all sorts of hard things--yet they remained committed to God, remained loving toward others, remained faithful to their Christian values. I can say Christianity is true because these Christians in my life proved it out, countless ways, over many years and three generations. Except for my great-granparents, which I heard about from my grandmother, I observed these people personally. I know what they were like!
Thirdly, I have met God in experiences. I can point to many experiences in my life that showed God's direct hand in my life--real, incredible miracles occurring, things that I could not possibly have done for myself, God did--and there is no doubt in my mind about it, because the timing is so perfect, the odds against them happening were so astronomical, I can call them miracles. I know the times and places where I have been spared death, been instantly healed, passed a graduate test in German in the subjunctive by guessing all the way through (an impossible feat), and so on--so I have, indeed, met God in my own life's experiences.
Fourthly, I have read many accounts by reputable people about their own experiences with God. I can accept their accounts for being truthful, for they are people who are not fabricators--well-known people with verifiable backgrounds and who live publicly, are known, and documented, so that they aren't cute little green-jacketed elves who pop out of dandelions and tell their incredible stories and then vanish by climbing a moonbeam.
The Bible is full of accounts of real people who lived for God, knew Him, talked with Him, and served Him all their lives. You can tell plainly by the circumstances given, and the things they said and did and experienced--they aren't anything but real people. They aren't fictional characters! I have loved and studied literature in college and university, and I know the difference between fiction and non-fiction (I love non-fiction too, having read civil war history when I was nine years old).
Fifthly, I have read much history and traveled half-way around the world and can see God's hand everywhere in the earth, so that evolution does not appear credible to me in the least--there is a great, divine, master plan, and so this earth is not the product of blind, random evolutionary processes that got started in a Big Bang somehow (it takes far too much faith on my part to believe that!).
Lastly, I can use my own eyes and senses and meet God in the marvelous things he has created--a leaf, a flower, a baby, a waterfall, a snow flake, an ocean, a mountain, a cloud, an act of kindness--they are all so wonderful they bear the imprint of a majestic, compassionate, creator God, and it is so clear I cannot imagine anyone missing it (though I have heard some people do). I am not a mole, I can see--and my eyes see God plainly, and He sees me. I don't have to see him as a flesh and blood person to believe in him, when he is present and visible to me in all these marvels I have mentioned. I can't expect God to turn into a flesh and blood individual for me to believe in him--he did that already anyway, in Jesus Christ. What he is, he does as a spirit, and as a spirit Jesus Christ took up residence in me, at my request. I have communion with Him now, whereas before I ignored him and did whatever I pleased and got nowwhere fast. I can relate to him as much as I want, and He relates to me in turn. It is a daily relationship, which I cultivate to strengthen because I value it. Jesus is becoming more important to me as time goes on. He has proven more faithful than any friend I have--and He has already done more for me than any friend could do. Yes, Mr. Radio Talk Show Host, I have met God, and, more significantly, He met me first, by dying on the Cross for me personally, with my name in his mind, when he took all my sin and paid the full penalty for it, so that I wouldn't have to suffer and die eternally for my own sins as I deserved to suffer and die. Some people now are claiming God couldn't punish anyone--that makes God an egotistical, old meanie. They completely disregard the fact that God is just, and crimes must be punished in a just universe. What is so unfair about that? In any case, God wouldn't punish me--not at all! In Jesus Christ on the cross, he made every effort to keep me from my punishment, did he not?
No, if I rejected Christ as my God-provided Substitute, I would punish myself with the results of my own sinfulness--and the price of sin is death, sin is that terrible a curse. If anyone doesn't agree with that, then I ask, why do we have all these police departments and all these courts to enforce the laws and mete out the punishments and imprisonments for crimes committed. Sin is terrible, it costs society a tremendous amount of suffering and damage to property and people, and untold billions of dollars. I am so glad my sin-indemnity has been wiped completely out by Christ's blood. I am now free, free, free! All because God met me, and I met God. And I will continue meeting Him too, in His precious Word, the chief means he has given for us to meet each other daily, day after day.--Ed.
